PIZZA - II: VILLA MOVIE REVIEW

A trend-setter in 2012, Karthik Subbaraj's 'Pizza' won the fans and critics alike, and its no surprise that the producers want to cash in on its name, by turning it into a franchise. 'Pizza - II : Villa' is directed by newcomer Deepan Chakravarthy, and please make no bones about it, it is definitely not a direct sequel to 'Pizza'. Then what else it could be ? The namesake, purely for profitable purpose ? One has to think about it after watching the film, rather than making assumptions before a viewing.

Ashok Selvan, who made his debut in 'Soodhu Kavvum' plays the lead role here for the very first time. Though he looks confident, the acting was not exceptional, and definitely there were plenty of room for improvement. His expressions could have been better and more intensity in his portrayal would have done great justice to the role. Still, Ashok tries his best to give you the 'writer-look' and with his nearly apt body language. Sanchita Shetty, performs an extension of sort of her 'Soodhu Kavvum' performance, minus the humor. The pair has no proper chemistry between them and the romance sequences, actually fell flat. Though the lead pair has rendered their best, its still an injustice to the potential of the script and scope of acting. Keep improving, folks ! The rest of the cast such as Nassar, Kaali, Jayakumar, Vegan Rajesh, Veera Santhanam, 'Pizza' Venkatesh, 'Boys' Rajan, Ramanathan, Anjali, Aaryan, Sarath, Vinoth, Jith, Ram and etc were adequate in their limited screen timing and presence.

Technically, the film has some very good output from the relatively, young and talented crew of technicians. First of all, congratulations to the sound department for its brilliant work. Arun Seenu with the effects, Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar dealing with the designing and the experienced M.Gita Gurappa taking care of the Dolby Atmos mixing, the sound engineering is riveting, especially in the second half. Kudos to the sound department ! 'Billa' Jagan handles the action choreography, and whatever action sequences present, were neatly executed. Production design by Maayan Ela's sufficed the needs of the script, though the budget was quite tight. Good detailing work with the props of the villa and also for the interiors of other plot settings available, interiors especially. Leo John Paul should be credited for the tight editing, and ensuring the screenplay is racy, especially with a slow-moving type of story-telling involved. The climax was well put together, though the end could have been little more smoother in scene transitions. The man who the director should be really thankful, is the cinematographer Deepak Kumar Padhy. Deepak's framing, and the quick camera movements in the second half created the perfect mood and feel of the script, added with Maayan's well set ambiance. Deepak, experiments with indoor lighting and he comes out with flying colors, in his attempt. The eerie and chill factor needed was justified by Deepak's work !

Santhosh Narayanan, rocks once again with his musical score. "Kaanum Gnanam" is a perfect soundtrack for this script and was used as the introductory song of the villa, featuring Ashok exploring the indoors of the villa for the first time. The lighting and framing for this song by Deepak, was really good ! "The Villa" and "Varaipadam" are background scores and were well used for the appropriate situations. "Boomiyil" is a melodious number shot on the lead pair, with many montages used for the song. Leo's editing was smooth for this song. "Pa Pa" was shot on Ashok on his venture of fact-finding and also had plenty of montages. Santhosh's background score was fabulous and his contributing to the script, is immense. This man is certain for great heights, provided that he's got talented directors with good scripts.

First of all, kudos to the producer and director for launching the idea of a 'Pizza' franchise. Let's clear the air, first. This is no direct sequel to Karthik Subbaraj's film. The similarity ? Both are thrillers. The difference ? The first installment was a supernatural/horror thriller with a twist, whereas the second is more of a psychological thriller. Its evident from the opening sequences that Deepan Chakravarthy has crafted the script in such a way that, it does not scare or fright you with atypical horror movie tricks. Deepan creates an eerie atmosphere throughout the screenplay and its more about the characters' dilemma and their understanding of what's happening around them. Deepan should be appreciated for his research and scientific explanations about paranormal activities, which are very interesting, in Manikandan.K's dialogues. But there are flaws in the direction, where the extraction of performance from the lead pair is below par, and the intensity needed for such scripts, missing. For some audience, this film can bore you, till the climax is reached. But the director made up for it, with a sucker punch of an ending, which has a promising prospect for a direct sequel. 

'Pizza - II : Villa' is a neatly executed film, but a more matured writing, direction and performance could have done wonders to this flick.


Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL